One of Gujarat Titans’ (GT) hallmarks over the last two seasons has been its ability to successfully play the long game. On Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, this facet shone again as GT beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets.
Chasing 163, the host accumulated runs in meticulous fashion. Wriddhiman Saha was his usual brisk self (25, 13b, 1x4, 2x6) while Shubman Gill played the steadier hand (36, 28b, 2x4, 1x6).
It was not until the 16th over that GT made the play, and when it did, it landed the killer blow. With 49 needed from 30 balls, Pat Cummins gambled with Mayank Markande only for David Miller (44 n.o., 27b, 4x4, 2x6) and B. Sai Sudharsan (45, 36b, 4x4, 1x6) to smash the leggie for two fours and two sixes.
In the next over, Miller sent Cummins thudding into the boundary twice, rolling his wrists to long-leg first and then creaming one through cover. Vijay Shankar collected two fours off Jaydev Unadkat before Miller sent him soaring over long-off to close the game.
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Earlier, after choosing to bat, SRH scored in spurts. Travis Head stroked freely (19, 14b, 3x4) but saw very little strike as Mayank Agarwal ate 17 deliveries for 16 runs.
Abhishek Sharma bludgeoned his way through (29, 20b, 2x4, 2x6), with the back-to-back sixes off Rashid Khan — over square-leg and over long-off — helping lift the PowerPlay score to 58. But Aiden Markram was below-par (17, 19b) as Rashid, Noor Ahmad — who replaced Spencer Johnson — and the excellent Mohit Sharma (4-0-25-3) choked the run flow.
The in-form Heinrich Klaasen (24, 13b, 1x4, 2x4) clubbed Noor for two sixes on the leg-side in the 13th over to try and shift momentum. That attempt fell flat too as Rashid cleaned up Klaasen while Markram couldn’t keep an on-drive down, and SRH was soon 114 for five.
Shahbaz Ahmed (20, 22b, 1x4, 1x6) and Abdul Samad (29, 14b, 3x4, 1x6) combined for 45 runs. But from overs 16 to 20, GT bowlers allowed just two sixes and a four, and tied up the clean-hitting Samad at the non-striker’s end for seven consecutive deliveries across the last two overs. The strong tailwind SRH needed never materialised, resulting in its downfall.
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